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Moving target indication - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Moving target indication

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Moving target indication (MTI) is a mode of operation of a radar to discriminate a target against clutter.[1]
In contrast to another mode, stationary target indication, it takes advantage of the fact that the target moves with
respect to stationary clutter. The most common approach takes advantage of the Doppler effect. For a given sequence
of radar pulses, the moving target will change its distance from the radar system. Therefore the phase of the radar
reflection that returns from the target will be different for successive pulses. This differs from a stationary target (or
clutter) which will cause the reflected pulses to arrive at the same phase shift.[1]
Radar MTI may be specialized in terms of the type of clutter and environment: airborne MTI (AMTI), ground MTI
(GMTI), etc., or may be combined mode: stationary and moving target indication (SMTI).

Contents
1 Operation
2 Characteristics
2.1 Probability of Detection (Pd)
2.2 Target Location Accuracy
2.3 Target Range Resolution (High Range Resolution or HRR)
2.4 Minimum Detectable Velocity MDV
2.5 Area Search Rate
2.6 Stand-off Distance
2.7 Coverage Area Size (breadth and depth)
2.8 Coverage Area Revisit Rate
3 See also
4 References

Operation
The MTI radar uses Low Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF) to avoid range ambiguities.
Moving target indicator (MTI) begins with sampling two successive pulses. Sampling begins immediately after the
radar transmit pulse ends. The sampling continues until the next transmit pulse begins.
Sampling is repeated in the same location for the next transmit pulse, and the sample taken (at the same distance) with
the first pulse is rotated 180 degrees and added to the second sample. This is called destructive interference.
If an object is moving in the location corresponding to both samples, then the signal reflected from the object will
survive this process because of constructive interference. If all objects are stationary, the two samples will cancel out
and very little signal will remain.
High power microwave devices, like crossed-field amplifier, are not phase-stable. The phase of each transmit pulse is
different from the previous and future transmit pulses. This phenomenon is called phase jitter.
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In order for MTI to work, the initial phase of both transmit pulses must be sampled and the 180 degree phase rotation
must be adjusted to achieve signal cancellation on stationary objects.
A secondary influence is that phase rotation is induced by Doppler, and that creates blind velocities. For example, an
object moving at 75 m/s (170 mile/hour) will produce 180 degree phase shift each 1 millisecond at L band.

If the pulse repetition interval is 0.002s between transmit pulses, then the MTI process will produce
phase
rotation. That is the same as a stationary object, which renders the system blind to objects traveling at this radial
velocity.
MTI requires 3 or 4 pulses to reduce the effect of blind velocities. Multi-pulse
strategies use staggered pulses with irregular pulse repetition intervals to
prevent signal cancellation on moving objects. The summation process is
slightly different so as to accommodate the additional samples.
Phase jitter, Doppler effects, and environmental influences limit MTI subclutter visibility Measure of Performance to about 25dB improvement. This
allows moving objects about 300 times smaller to be detected in close
proximity to larger stationary objects.
Pulse-Doppler signal processing is required to achieve greater sub-clutter
visibility.

Characteristics
A target is traveling at velocity
to a bistatic MTI radar.

at a maximum range

with elevation angle

Moving target indicator signal

sampling process.

and azimuth

in respect

Probability of Detection (Pd)

The probability of detecting a given target at a given range any time the radar beam scans across it, Pd is determined
by factors that include the size of the antenna and the amount of power it radiates. A large antenna radiating at high
power provides the best performance. For high quality information on moving targets the Pd must be very high.

Target Location Accuracy

Location accuracy is a dependent on the certainty of the position of the radar, the radar-pointing accuracy, azimuth
resolution, and range resolution. A long antenna or very short wavelength can provide fine azimuth resolution. Short
antennas tend to have a larger azimuth error, an error that increases with range to the target because signal-to-noise
ratio varies inversely with range. Location accuracy is vital to tracking performance because it prevents track
corruption when there are multiple targets and makes it possible to determine which road a vehicle is on if it is
moving in an area with many roads.
The target location accuracy is proportional to the slant range, frequency and aperture length.

Target Range Resolution (High Range Resolution or HRR)

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Target range resolution determines whether two or more targets moving in close proximity will be detected as
individual targets. With higher performance radars, target range resolutionknown as High Range Resolution (HRR)
can be so precise that it may be possible to recognize a specific target (i.e., one that has been seen before) and to
place it in a specific class (e.g., a T-80 tank). This would allow more reliable tracking of specific vehicles or groups
of vehicles, even when they are moving in dense traffic or disappear for a period due to screening.

Minimum Detectable Velocity MDV

The MDV comes from the frequency spread of the mainlobe clutter. MDV determines whether traffic will be
detected. A GMTI radar must distinguish a moving target from ground clutter by using the targets Doppler signature
to detect the radial component of the targets velocity vector (i.e., by measuring the component of the targets
movement directly along the radar-target line). To capture most of this traffic, even when it is moving almost
tangentially to the radar (i.e., perpendicular to the radar-target line), a system must have the ability to detect very slow
radial velocities. As the radial component of a targets velocity approaches zero, the target will fall into the clutter or
blind zone. This is calculated as:

Any target with a velocity less than this minimum (MDV) cannot be detected because there is not sufficient Doppler
shift in its echo to separate it from the mainlobe clutter return.

Area Search Rate

The area coverage rate (measured in area per unit time) is proportional to system power and aperture size. Other
factors which may be relevant include grid spacing, size of the power amp, module quantization, the number of beams
processed and system losses.

Stand-off Distance
Stand-off distance is the distance separating a radar system from the area it is covering.

Coverage Area Size (breadth and depth)

Coverage area size is the area that the system can keep under continuous surveillance from a specific orbit. Well
known design principles cause a radars maximum detection range to depend on the size of its antenna (radar
aperture), the amount of power radiated from the antenna, and the effectiveness of its clutter cancellation mechanism.
The earths curvature and screening from terrain, foliage, and buildings cause system altitude to be another key factor
determining depth of coverage. The ability to cover an area the size of an army corps commanders area of interest
from a safe stand-off distance is the hallmark of an effective, advanced GMTI system.

Coverage Area Revisit Rate

This equates to the frequency with which the radar beam passes over a given area. Frequent revisits are very important
to the radars ability to achieve track continuity and contribute to an increased probability of target detection by
lessening the chance of obscuration from screening by trees, buildings, or other objects. A fast revisit rate becomes
critical to providing an uncorrupted track when a target moves in dense traffic or is temporarily obscured, if only by
trees along a road.

See also
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Doppler radar
Pulse-Doppler radar
STANAG 4607

References
1. ^ a b Jerry C. Whitaker (2005) The Electronics Handbook, ISBN 0-8493-1889-0, p. 1824 (http://books.google.com/books?
id=FdSQSAC3_EwC&pg=PA1824&dq=%22Moving-target+indication%22&sig=ZdJ7WQUan2g5FKdlL_rfr393JK8)

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Categories: Radar signal processing Targeting (warfare)
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